A discursive engagement of evasions in police-suspect interactions in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

This study reports the discursive appeals embedded in the deployment of evasions in police-suspect interactions (PSIs) in Ibadan. Studies have marked investigating police officers (IPOs) as participants who overtly wield power during interrogation. This study argues that power is not an exclusive preserve of the IPOs; suspects equally deploy evasions to challenge IPOs’ powers. Informed by van Dijk’s model of critical discourse analysis, 45 interrogation sessions on fraud and threat to life, murder, rape, stealing and felony, observed at the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Ìyágankú, Ibadan, constitute the data for the study. Suspects are evasive through deliberate construction of deflection, appeals to ignorance, ambiguity, and interrogatives to challenge IPOs’ construction of power. The study notes that evasions are used by suspects to express resistance in PSIs. While previous studies see suspects as vulnerable participants in PSIs, this study holds that suspects also challenge IPOs by using evasions to stymie IPOs’ investigative skills.